Was today just another day...

For the past year or so, I've been on a quest to figure out who I am, and where I'm going. And I think I'm getting closer to the answer. Throughout time many people have had many ways to express this simple idea.

Seize the day!
Live every day as if it were your last and then some day you'll be right. ~H.H. "Breaker" Morant
Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think. ~Chinese proverb
Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive. ~Elbert Hubbard
Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead.
Why must conversions always come so late? Why do people always apologize to corpses? ~David Brin
There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back. ~Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it. ~Charles Buxton
You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted. ~Ruth E. Renkl
We cannot waste time. We can only waste ourselves. ~George M. Adams
If you wait, all that happens is that you get older. ~Larry McMurtry, Some Can Whistle
I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung. ~Tagore
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner that when you die the world cries and you rejoice. ~Indian Saying
Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got. ~Art Buchwald
Eat, drink, and be merry for... you get the point.
I could go on, but I think you can do the same thing I did, and Google quotes. The webernet is full of pages of them. And it's a bit lazy to let others do my writing for me. But, since I have yet to develop a profound statement of my own, I will throw out just one more borrowed one.

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. ~Mark Twain

I know it's easy to both, see the importance in these statements, and to scoff at them. I could say that to take these things too seriously, would mean not doing the things necessary to put a roof over your head, and food in your belly. It would mean indulging every whim. And that's just not realistic, so what do we do instead? We spend our days constantly working toward that goal that is always just out of reach. I for one want to find the happy medium. I'm going to try and live my life in that fuzzy gray area.

For a long time I've had this weird quirk, some of you know about. It's very common on nights when I don't have to get up early for work, school, or whatever, for me to stay up all night. Whether or not I've always been consciously aware of why I do this, I don't know. But what I've been doing all this time, is trying to stave off the new day. Because, with the new day comes the end of the old one. That day is gone from me. If it was a good day, I can no longer live in it. And if it was a bad one, there's no longer anything I can do to make it better. But the fact is, that doesn't work, and while I've been busy trying not to miss out on life, life has been passing me by.

So, this is the question I now ask myself.

Was today just another day, or was it the best day of your life?